Letting Go: Games We've Parted Ways With

We've all done it--either sold these once beloved games or relegated them to the closet shelf or garage forever. Now, I'm not talking about "dogs"--yes, there's little to no emotion save for disgust, disappointment, anger, or even outrage when we kiss them goodbye. But what about games that were your favorites that you no longer play?

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The venerable PANZERBLITZ and PANZER LEADER games. Oh, I still take them out from time to time, unfold those maps, fondle the counters, maybe even set up a scenario for old times' sake. But play them? Not on your life. It's an exercise is lost romance--such disappointment sets in. I suddenly realize why I stopped playing them, what games captured my fancy. For me, it was Avalon Hill's TOBRUK that took me away...and shortly thereafter, the appearance of John Hill's SQUAD LEADER. For platoon level armor games, I fiddled with West End's TANK LEADER series but it was GDW's ASSAULT contemporary hypothetical warfare series that was the end-all/be-all system for me...at least until the Berlin Wall fell.

PANZER COMMAND was perhaps my favorite for that kind of scale, even though pieces were company-sized. So I have high hopes when DEVIL'S CAULDRON hits my doorstep since it uses basically the same system. These days it's PANZERGRENADIER that dominates the platoon tactical system genre. I do enjoy that game because it's relatively easy to learn and plays relatively quickly for the moderately sized scenarios. My ultimate favorite platoon game is The Gamers'/MMP's Tactical Combat Series (TCS), but it takes a long time to get through most of the games.

What do these games offer the older ones don't? For the geomorphic board crowd, the PANZERGRENADIER boards are much more representative of the typical terrain you'd find. Which means bland if you are in Africa or Russia. I'm not a fan of the art work on the newer boards (those old PANZERBLITZ and PANZERLEADER boards were so functional), but I can live with them. PANZER COMMAND/DEVIL'S CAULDRON are so much better, but they're based on real terrain. So are the TCS games. And I guess that makes a big difference to me, knowing I'm fighting over a representation of the actual ground in the battle.

Sequence of play is just so much more dynamic now. No more sitting around waiting for your opponent to get done with all his shooting and/or moving (even if you are busy flipping /removing counters or checking for opportunity fire). There's leadership and morale effects. And in the TCS and PANZER COMMAND systems, the command and control competition is given proper place (same goes for the old TANK LEADER series, although it used cards to do this).

Still, I get misty about the GRANCELLES bridges, that wonderful beach board in PANZER LEADER we'd assault and defend over, the sleepy village of Bednost in PANZER BLITZ...sigh.

To me, it's "Lock'n Load" by Mark H. Walker. I really like tactical games (being an ASL player with a SL history), and I like games about the Vietnam War (for example Vietnam 1965-1975). Lock'n Load seemed to be a nice novelty first, offering modern graphics and design and a nice impulse system. Unfortunately, the longer we played, the more balancing issues appeared. Besides these, the rules were written in a quite sloppy fashion (for example indicating a "clear LOS", unopposed to any "unclear" or hindered LOS - which is very confusing for an ASL player accustomed to precise language). I really wanted to like the game and played it for some time, we even designed our own player aid sheets and laminated the charts, but I slowly began to loose interest due to the many rules and balancing issues. Eventually, the game endet up in the closet, never to be touched again because time was much too valuable and there were far too many good games out there. Then we even sold the game and invested the money in other games.

Another game I suspended was Axis & Allies (and all its expansions). It was my first step into the vast wargaming universe and I played A&A and all its expansions quite fanatically for some time, but when I discovered the consim world, A&A seemed more and more limited. It's not a general dislike for simple games (I like Memoir'44 for example), but A&A was much too repetitive and there were only a handful of strategic options (i.e. the infamous stack in Karelia). Eventually, we sold A&A and the expansions and traded them for Totaler Krieg - a decision I never regretted :)

I kick myself for giving away(yes gave away!) my copy of Excalibre's Ancient Conquest which I would love to have a copy back again but have yet to find one;(

while not a wargame per say I haven't played a System7 battle in at least 17 years .I.used to play all the time with a couple of guys( and would even play it solo) from the old gaming club. but alas one had passed away around that time of stopped playing.maybe someday.
Another unplayed in ages is TSS 1st edtion. I get it set-up but something comes up that I pack it back up again.I would play that little bugger solo so many times.

I'm happy to have held onto my copies of ACI and ACII over the years. They have both lost their shine as good multiplayer games, but they are both great situations that can be spruced up a bit. I have been working on a faster playing version of these two to entice the current crowd of crossover gamers, and I think I might be onto something.

And I have obtained the licenses to reproduce both the System 7 rules (from Greg Novak) and the counters (from Rich Banner). My initial work is titled System 2007, includes a cleaned up set of rules that introduces orders chits and a streamlined combat resolution method, and a full battle module for the Battle of Quatre Bras, including all counters (for the French I Corps, as well) and a 4'x8' map. It is available for free download.

I first started to buy(now collect) war games in 1972. My first purchase was USN by SPI. I still have it in mint condition and many other purchases over the years have accumalated. Most are in mint condition such as SPI's War in the East, Avalon Hill's The Longest Day and others that I just can't seem to part with. I have a weakness towards East Front games and still have not found the "perfect" one but I still enjoy The Russian Campaign and PanzerBlitz. I now am approaching 59 and soon the day will come that I will have to sell my collection so guys start saving your money over the next couple years as there will be some Really Good Games to be offered(sigh) as I know my sons would probably trash them as they never got into war-gaming. I am now considering buying Russia Beseiged, when will the madness stop? I guess never as long as there are wargames, I will still buy.

For me it's The Gamer's TCS series. I've kept a few, like Screaming Eagles which had the most playing time, but sold Omaha and Bloody 110 when I finally decided I would never play them. Now, what does the list look like when we talk about games we sold when the kids were young and gaming time was at a premium, only to by them back at some outrageous price later in life. I always liked a lot of the older GDW games (Citadel, Road to the Rhine), but sold (more like gave them away when there was no eBay) back in the early 80's and have since bought them again. Oh, for unlimited storage space.

Twilight Struggle has moved to the back of my game shelf... played too much of it I think, the shine just wore off the apple. I still get dragged into it periodically (due to its popularity), but I really don't enjoy playing it anymore...

There's a bunch of games I could add but Panzerblitz/Panzerleader is definately at the top. Back in high school, we used to put together six or seven games sets and build monster scenarios and play for weeks on end (I eventually wound up buying everyone's copies). I suppose the game system is somewhat dated now but I've never founds a satisfactory replacement. The whole Squad Leader/ASL thing was way too cumbersome for my tastes and Tobruk was way too much die-rolling. I suppose there's the Panzergrenadier series now but I'm just not sold enough to make a financial investment.

Avalon Hill's 1776 is another one that stands out. This is another one we played endlessly but for some reason, we never got far enough in the game to actually the French intervene (the French counters are almost pristine compared the well-used British and American counters.